Overwatch League Week 3, Day 3 Recap

By the end of Day 3, what seemed to be impossible became done: Dynasty fell to NYXL, resulting in no teams holding perfect records. Meanwhile, the Dragons almost claimed their first win while Fuel and Shock’s action-packed battle closed out the night.

Seoul Dynasty vs New York Excelsior

NYXL wins, 2-3

Eichenwalde – NYXL wins, 1-2

Despite an almost backcap by Munchkin’s Tracer, it was Libero’s Genji and Saebyeolbe’s Tracer that stopped Dynasty on a few meters away from the front gate of the castle. NYXL, however, dominantly won the first team fight on their attack, grabbing the first point in under a minute. With over five minutes on the payload, all NYXL had to do was steadily push the point in over to win. Mano sped things up with his Primal Rage, grabbing the majority of kills to open up the point and round the final corner. Dynasty almost stabilized immediately afterwards, but Libero grabbed a triple kill with his Dragon Blade to make the final push over the finish line to take Eichenwalde for New York.

Horizon Lunar Colony – Dynasty wins, 5-4

Dynasty’s attack relied heavily on Ryujehong’s Sombra, with Zunba and Kuki poking in and out of semi-dangerous areas to get injured and then use Sombra’s hacked packs to charge EMP very quickly. The plan worked for the first point, but ultimately failed on the second, with Dynasty switching off to a successful McCree composition a bit later on. NYXL, meanwhile, came up with a brilliant composition of their own, going for a quad-tank, Lucio/Moira that resulted in an absolutely steamroll on Point A. With over seven minutes on the clock, NYXL captures Point B in only two minutes to have 5:33 left. After two overtimes, however, it proved to not be enough; Dynasty not only captured the first point in their second Overtime, they also denied NYXL from doing it when they had double the amount of time, resulting in a come-from-behind Seoul victory.

Oasis – NYXL wins, 1-2

NYXL barely managed a win on Gardens, thanks in part to Ryujehong’s mysterious swap onto the low-mobility Ana instead of sticking to the high-mobility Mercy that he’d been on all map. NYXL, however, then made a mistake of their own on University, seemingly forgetting to contest the point as Dynasty reached 100% charge. That left the final battle on City Center, where the point bounced back and forth for the opening bout. Ark, however, proved he can be a very patient Mercy, being conservative with his Valkyrie to ensure that he used it only when his team needed it. Libero’s Pharah then cleaned up the rest of Dynasty to capture Oasis for New York.

Junkertown – Dynasty wins, 1-0

NYXL almost had Dynasty before they even reached the front gates of Junkertown, but unfortunately for them, Wekeed and Fleta were too effective to be denied. Fleta also tried to be the hero on Genji moving into the the end of the second point, but Mano was too strong on Winston to stop them just before second point. For the second time this match, however, NYXL failed to stay on the point, resulting in their Overtime being cut short and Dynasty taking the series to a full five maps.

Lijang Tower – NYXL wins, 0-2

JJonak was the hero of Night Market, with his Zenyatta being as deadly as ever to take back the point from the initial Dynasty onslaught. With the first map covered, Mano took the lead on Garden with his Winston to keep Dynasty away from the point. At the very end, NYXL was aggressive enough to even take the fight to Dynasty’s spawn, resulting in a further stagger of the already-limping Dynasty. With a final clean up, NYXL claimed not only Lijang but also the first win against the Dynasty in OWL history.

MVP – Mano, for his Winston constantly turning the tide of battle when all was supposed to be lost. Assist honors go to Libero, whose Genji did the same when Mano couldn’t.

Shanghai Dragons vs Philadelphia Fusion

Fusion wins, 2-3

Eichenwalde – Fusion wins, 0-1

The first map went by extremely quickly, with the Dragons being unable to take more than a point and a half on the first point before time expiring. Carpe, meanwhile, having gone 14-1 in the map according to official live stats, accompanied ShaDowBurn on the quest to speedrun their attack, resulting in Fusion going beyond what Shanghai managed within the first two minutes of the round to win the map for Philly. Special honors also go to Hotba, who went 14-0 on D.va overall on Eichenwalde.

Horizon Lunar Colony – Fusion wins, 2-3

Diya’s Pulse Bombs hit well throughout the match, with a particularly useful ultimate grabbing Carpe, who then accidentally hit right into Fragi to give Diya a double kill. While the Dragons finished up the map in Overtime, Fusion pulled out a quick completion with 4:05 left on the clock, resulting in a last-chance scenario for Fusion. All Fusion had to do was get one tick on the point, which was much done before it even began: Freefeel’s Zenyatta fell out of position, resulting in Fusion collapsing in on the Omnic. Altering then made the risky decision to try to Resurrect Freefeel, but when that failed, it left the rest of the Dragons unprotected and without heals. Soon enough, Shanghai was wiped off of Horizon, and Fusion took their second win of the day.

Oasis – Dragons win, 2-1

Diya’s quick kill on Neptuno opened up a door for Shanghai, but it was quickly closed thanks to Carpe and Fragi’s work on Tracer and Winston respectively. Undead’s McCree then led the charge to take the point back from the Fusion, though the damage had already been done: Philly had gotten a 77% charge thanks to some legendary stall tactics. Despite Fusion pulling the same tactics at the start of City Center, Undead and Diya were able to overcome the stall and not only capture the point but also clean up the point of Fusion to tie up Oasis. University, however, was a complete turn of momentum: Dragons were not only able to take the point first, but they were also able to consistently target Neptuno (mainly thanks to Xushu’s D.Va) which resulted in Fusion always playing defensively, which eventually cost them the map. With Diya on Junkrat grabbing the necessary kills as well, it was only a matter of time before the Dragons had their first map win of the day.

Junkertown: Dragons win, 3-2

Diya’s Tracer once again put Fusion on notice, with some fantastic Pulse Bombs that kept the Dragons in the game. Though eventually, the Dragons were stopped just a few meters away from the goal, it was the Dragon’s defense that was particularly eventful, with Shanghai being able to overcome ShaDowBurn’s Dragon Blade and about five and a half minutes of constant Fusion assault to stop Philly just before the goal point, resulting in a hard-fought Dragons win. This match was scrappy for both sides, but in the end the respawns favored the Dragons, giving them the go-ahead push they needed to be the closest to a match victory than they have been in the history of OWL.

Lijang Tower – Fusion wins, 0-2

The last stand for Dragons happened early, thanks in part to ShaDowBurn’s Genji once again going pretty much unchecked in the final map. Though Neptuno was constantly targeted, the work of Fragi and Hotba covering and taking as much fire as they could to protect the more squishy heroes when Neptuno wasn’t around worked out with Fusion’s favor, as they were able to bounce into the back line to wreck havoc on Dragons’ supports to ensure the Fusion victory. With that, Philly denies the reverse sweep.

MVP – ShaDowBurn, for once again making the some of the best Dragon Blade plays.

Dallas Fuel vs San Francisco Shock

Fuel wins, 3-0

Eichenwalde – Tie 3-3

Fuel’s attack phase was all about Effect’s McCree, who almost single-handedly cleared the point for a quick Fuel capture. Shock answered back with a very long hold at the gate just after the original capture point, cutting down at least two minutes from Fuel’s time. From there, it was Babybay’s Widowmaker that kept the Fuel away from the bridge for the majority of their time. Despite that, however, the Fuel were able to complete the map in Overtime. For Shock’s attack, Babybay took Effect honors of absolutely rolling through the defense, but Dallas was unable to hold back the Shock for the majority of the map, resulting in Shock forcing an Overtime where only Shock had the chance to re-capture thanks to their three minute timebank. Despite that huge disadvantage, it was once again Effect with the hard carry, including a triple-kill Deadeye (including on Dhak’s Mercy!) to clear Shock out of Eichenwalde, ending the series in a tie.

Horizon Lunar Colony – Fuel wins, 3-2

Effect took a back seat to Seagull’s Junkrat this round, with the player goes wild to compliment Effect’s Widowmaker and complete the map with about three minutes left. Shock was able to complete, forcing Overtime rounds. While Fuel was able to capture the first point, it was Seagull’s Junkrat that denied Shock even a tick on first in their Overtime rounds, allowing Fuel to full hold the Shock on their second take, giving Fuel their first map win of the night.

Illios – Fuel wins, 2-0

Fuel started off strong by ensuring that Babybay’s Pharah would have limited impact on the ground war below, resulting in Effect once again going off to ensure the Fuel win on Well. Windmill was a far greater struggle between the two teams, with Effect and Seagull’s McCree and Junkrat constantly being matched by Babybay and Danteh’s Genji and Pharah. With some final kills from Seagull – including a clutch kill on Sleepy’s Mercy – Fuel finally have their first win of the season, with Shock being unable to catch up in the best-of-four series.

Junkertown – Fuel wins, 3-1

Junkertown started off rocky for Fuel – and that’s meant somewhat literally, as a RIP-Tire from Danteh right at the edge of the cliff not only claimed two Fuel likes but also allowed Effect to walk himself off the map accidentally, resulting in a team wipe. From there, however, it was Dhak’s Mercy that got the short end of the stick in most encounters, with Fuel focusing him down enough that the Shock couldn’t recover, even with as small of a time bank that Fuel had. With Fuel completing the map, Shock would have to as well to force Overtime rounds, or instead face defeat. With Mickie on Roadhog and Effect on Widowmaker, Fuel had the payload on lock just before the second point, resulting in Fuel’s first official victory ending on a high note.

MVP: Effect, for his hard-carry McCree.

More Information

With today’s games in the history books, Dynasty once again joins NYXL and Spitfire for the top spot, with all three currently at 5-1. Fusion take second (or fourth, whichever way of expressing it you prefer) place by themselves for the moment, with a 4-2 record, while Shock is still in the lower half with a 2-4 record. Fuel finally jumps up a spot, overcoming the now 0-6 Dragons to improve to 1-4.

Today’s games wrap up the week, with Fuel taking on the Uprising, then Valiant goes against Mayhem, and finally Gladiators take on the Outlaws.

I like how detailed these articles are. They've got a good mix of highlights and info to explain the scores. They also don't take very long to read for whichever team you're interested in. Overall, I like this format.